Caitlin Clark lands first Sports Illustrated cover
Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark will cover Sports Illustrated for the first time with the release of the magazine's June 2025 WNBA preview issue.
Sports Illustrated confirmed to cllct Thursday the issue is the first print cover for Clark, who has previously appeared on digital covers for the publication.
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For the magazine's 'Fever Dream' cover, Clark appears alongside teammates Aliyah Boston, DeWanna Bonner and Kelsey Mitchell.
Inside, the magazine features a dive into the Fever's rapid rebuild around Clark and its improved roster beyond the former No. 1 overall pick.
In a video shared to the team's social media channels Thursday, the Fever surprised the cover athletes with a first look at the magazine.
'That is fire,' Clark says during the reveal. 'Just beautiful. Beautiful work of art. I love it. That's sick.'
The cover stands as a key moment for Clark and her collectibles market, with magazine covers from publications such as Sports Illustrated rapidly growing in popularity in recent years.
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Though the cover is Clark's first for SI, the Fever guard has appeared on multiple covers of SLAM. Clark also covered TIME when she was named the publication's Athlete of the Year for 2024.
Clark's first SLAM cover came in 2024, with a pull-out poster included in issue No. 249. That magazine, which featured Clark as an Iowa Hawkeye, has been graded by CGC more than 250 times.
A 9.9 example of the magazine, which is the highest in CGC's census, is set to sell at Goldin later this month.
Sports Illustrated covers, especially first appearances for key athletes and iconic photographs, have long been coveted among collectors.
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To date, the record for any single Sports Illustrated issue is the $126,000 paid at Heritage in 2023 for a CGC 9.8 example of Michael Jordan's 1984 'A Star is Born' cover, which featured Jordan on the magazine for the first time as a professional.
Earlier this year, a collection of every Sports Illustrated issue from its debut in 1954 through 2023 sold for $158,600 at Heritage.
Clark's cover is the second for a WNBA star in recent months after Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese covered the magazine's '50 Most Influential Figures in Sports' issue in October 2024.
That cover was the second for Reese with Sports Illustrated following an appearance on the publication's 'Money Issue' in October 2023, which covered the new era of NIL.
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture. He was previously the Collectibles Editor at Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on X and Instagram @benmburrows.
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